The Saint Ignatius Soccer team won their first 4 games beating Chicago Hope Academy, Chicago University Maroons, Latin School of Chicago, and the British International School of Chicago. They lost their first game to a tough non-conference opponent Notre Dame in a close 2-1 match. The expectations are high for this team, but a tough schedule lies ahead.
A big question for the team is how they can handle having a lot of new players on the roster. Senior Deo Campbell was asked about this and said, “I think the challenge this year will be filling in the spots our seniors left since we lost a lot of them”.
Senior Roman Marsh also responded to this question, “Of course there will be challenges with having a lot of new players this year. We only have five returning varsity players, so the majority of the team is new. We have to adjust our tactics and get to know each other more on and off the field. Even though a lot of players are new, the more we play with each other, the better we become. Our team chemistry increases as we learn how to play together”.
After coming off of a strong season last year, the team wanted to work on specific things to further improve in 2024 .
When asked about what they specifically developed, Deo Campbell said, “In the pre-season we worked on our attacking principles of using our wingers to cut it back in the box for shots on goal which has given us a lot of goals this season”.
This off-season work has paid off as the team has scored 26 goals in their first five games, having scored at least eight goals in a game twice already.
The team plays a great schedule and has many games that the players are looking forward to. Deo Campbell mentioned DePaul and Fenwick, both are very competitive rivalry matches. The DePaul game last year was a 1-0 win for the Wolfpack and the Wolfpack tied 3-3 with Fenwick last season.
When asked about who he is looking forward to playing, Roman Marsh said, “I am looking most forward to our games against Fenwick, Mount Carmel, and Whitney Young. Fenwick are our rivals and are a part of the Catholic Conference League. Mount Carmel is also in our league and I know some kids on their team. Lastly, Whitney Young is our senior night and some of their players are on my club soccer team”.
The Wolfpack look to keep up the strong start, by playing at Providence Catholic for the first conference game of the year. The Ignatius community is looking forward to big things from the team this year.
